There’s no denying it: a sunset picnic on Third Beach, Stanley Park, in the company of various posturing herons, lolling seals and, if you’re lucky, some wandering raccoons, is one hell of a way to absorb the bountiful beauty of Vancouver – a city prized for its natural good looks. And it’s the best way to end a bicycle ride around this famous, sprawling urban park, where age-old Douglas firs, stately cedars, shimmering lakes and hordes of geese greet you along with totem poles, peerless views of the magnificent Lions Gate Bridge, and the surrounding ocean.
You can rest up against one of the beach’s many logs and settle in for an evening – stay until 9pm and hear the rumble of the Stanley Park cannon, fired at this time daily. And it’s best to soak up the sunset colours and soaring mountain views with some food – the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Giovane ‘the market’ deli sells an unrivalled selection of Italian-inspired picnic options, including house-cured meats and cheeses, all curated by executive chef Darren Brown, whose passion for fresh, well-sourced produce is clear in the range of single origin olive oils also on offer here.
But if you fancy tucking into all this grub with a glass of prosecco, or a nice bottle of local pinot noir from the nearby Okanagan Valley (Canada’s answer to Napa), you’ll have to think again. Because one of the few downsides to this gorgeous city are the archaic licensing laws, which – though currently lobbied for updating – forbid the consumption of alcohol in its parks and on its beaches. It’s up to you whether you risk a crafty beer – many of the locals hide them in socks and slurp surreptitiously – but if you get caught by one of the city’s eagle-eyed, quad-biking cops, you’ll be faced with a hefty fine. Whether or not these uptight alcohol laws have anything to do with Vancouver’s apparent obsession with the intoxicating stuff, as witnessed by its wealth of newfound craft breweries, superb cocktail bars, urban wineries and now even its own craft gin distillery (longtabledistillery.com), is up for debate, but it sure goes some way towards making up for them. You might be limited in terms of where you can drink here, but you’ll never be short of very good options.
Perhaps park your bike up somewhere safe, before heading to new brewery Brassneck (brassneck.ca) on hip Main Street and checking out some of its quirky local sups (try the ‘No Brainer’ pre-prohibition style corn lager), then stroll down the road to The Narrow Lounge (narrowlounge.com) – a lively, subterranean speakeasy located behind an unremarkable door around the corner on 3rd Avenue – for a slightly stiffer snifter.
You’re going to need some decent scran to soak up all this local liquor, and the good news is that Vancouver is a greedy traveller’s hog heaven. If you’re feeling fancy, there are countless fine dining options to please your palate (and deplete your wallet): local uber-chef David Hawksworth trained with some of the UK’s most respected chefs, including Philip Howard at The Square and Raymond Blanc, and his eponymous restaurant (hawksworthrestaurant.com) at the swanky Rosewood Hotel Georgia is the place to taste cracking contemporary Canadian cuisine. Dedicated to showcasing the most pristine Pacific Coast produce, he creates refined, intricately crafted plates, such as smoked sablefish with Jerusalem artichoke, apple kimchi, bacon, and a citrus mustard emulsion.
Over in West Vancouver, chef Quang Dang – a one-time colleague of Hawksworth – is also flying the flag for the finest Pacific Coast produce at the aptly named West restaurant (westrestaurant.com). His menus give you the option of dining from ‘land’ or ‘sea’, with dishes that name-check local and regional specialities: think line-caught ling cod with chorizo, Helmers’ potatoes, and Dungeness crab vinaigrette, or braised bison short ribs, cous cous, Swiss chard and sweet chilli emulsion. Whatever you do, don’t miss the West Coast oysters, which will delight with their vital, mineral, sea-washed slurpability, punchy hit of horseradish and a subtle, floral elderflower mignonette.
But to think Vancouver’s food scene is all about the glam dining spots would be to massively underestimate it. Part of its ample charm is that there’s good, affordable food at every corner. Thanks to its thriving Asian communities, decent sushi, ramen, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese tapas and dim sum are commonplace, and – particularly in the case of sushi – surprisingly cheap. Try the tuna tataki with ponzu and crispy fried garlic chips at funky Guu Izakaya
(guu-izakaya.com/gastown) in cool, cobbled, former industrial Gastown. Street kitchens have popped up all over town in vans, trucks and carts, since tight limitations on what food vendors could sell (popcorn, hotdogs and ice cream) were relaxed in 2009. Like Vancouver’s brick-and-mortar restaurants, these gourmet street eats are defined by the wealth of wonderful local produce provided by the surrounding Pacific, and nearby agricultural hubs the Fraser and Okanagan Valleys.
Fresh Local Wild (Burrard and West Hastings; freshlocalwild.com) makes the most of the aforementioned bountiful seafood, and offers local fish and chips with a conscience. The carbon-neutral truck powers its electrics with waste biomass and sources ingredients from local fishermen, ethical farms and sustainable wild forages. Try the BC fish shawarma – a mix of halibut, ling cod and steelhead with hummus, tabbouleh, pita and spice for $10.
Japadog (Burrard and Smithe, and other locations in Downtown Vancouver; japadog.com; @japadog) is one street food purveyor you’ll notice more than any other because it has so many sites – though likely you’ll smell its sizzling onions before you see it. These fusion dogs are among the tastiest food you’ll find for under $10, and it doesn’t really matter whether you order the smoky Terimayo with teriyaki sauce and seaweed, or the Kobe Beef with Japanese ketchup and maple leaf-shaped bean curd – a bit like the city itself, it’s all delicious.
Follow Rosie’s updates on @rosiefoodie and her blog at alotonherplate.com.
Rosie’s debut cookbook, Fresh: 100 Delicious Recipes from Market to Table will be published by Hardie Grant in spring 2015.
